Shadowed Hearts
by PeaceWithinMe
Summary: Even through times of excessive, misguided events, there is always change to settle in when the dust fades away...


It was 9:34 P.M, Beacon was throwing it's annual Halloween party for all of its students. Staff members including Professor Ozpin himself would excuse themselves from the school and trust the students to not tear it to pieces Thankfully, they never did. Everyone was having a good time.

Except for one **Cardin Winchester.** Left alone by himself by the balcony, he was brooding as always. Or perhaps not always, but ever since the incident regarding him and Jaune being nearly killed by Ursa's.

Now be it as it may, Cardin could even admit he was a sore loser but he was never one to be mopey. Not to mention, he's been questioning Jaune's actions towards him after the ordeal. Such as when Cardin would actually take the time to listen to Professor Oobleck, he would have paper wads thrown at him, one time even a book. It didn't take him long to find out who it was, because he could hear snickering from Jaune himself. Although as for everyone else on his team, they didn't participate in such with their leader.

The cycle has never ended since, and neither did Cardin's melancholy. It was rare to ever see him smile, even if it was smirk that held spite. However, even when he would be harassed by Jaune, he continued with his school life and endured as much as he could.

It just didn't make sense. How can bullying a guy like Arc turn him into a bigger douche than himself? Well, in retrospect, the burnt haired teen felt like a twit... Well more than usual.

Though he did have a good point, Jaune was left alone even with Cardin promising to quit bullying Velvet and team JNPR. So why was Jaune still going out of his way to fill in Cardin's shoes? Payback? Cardin thought that Heroes gained satisfaction from being the better man and not stooping to his level. Now, Winchester even opted to be Jaune's friend, but now he was beginning to lose some hope in what was supposed to be good in life.

Hell, he even saw Arc as a true Huntsmen. But it started to become quite the opposite over the months as Jaune became the second version of Cardin. And the past tormentor's character was shriveling away and before hatching a new one. As it was already stated, Cardin began doing better in Oobleck's class and has even had several friendly chats with the man. He even has absentmindedly performed polite gestures, such as open doors for others, say bless you after someone sneezed and at one point, he even returned a book that a certain cat faunus had lost. His reward was a sneer as if he had let one loose in a public area. But what the Faunus had noticed was his expression was that of someone in between a state of limbo. She felt a little guilty after that, after all she was raised properly and she knew deep down that some things do change.

 _Back to the party..._

* * *

Inside the ballroom, there was decorated everything. Every part of the room itself was filled with something Halloween themed. The punch at the table was it's usual red look except the difference was that it was labeled as 'blood'. There was your typical string carrying cardboard ghosts. But as of for the costumes, there were definitely some very... unique costumes.

Team RWBY consists of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xio long. The Rose girl was going out as a vampire, since her color theme was very similar to Dracula's. She wore a black Victorian dress along with a rose on the back of her blazer. She also had fake blood drip from her lips.

Her sister Yang had decided to dress as Frankenstein's wife with a ragged torn white dress that left so much imagination to the eye. However she did not have the monster's wife's hairdo. She would have gone bonkers looking like that. She did have white streaks in her hair though, along with painted stitches on her neck.

Weiss was dressed as a zombie princess, her main outfit included a dirty brown dress similar to a Princess'. For the finishing touch, her arms and legs were made to look as if chunks of flesh were taken out. She even decided to go with the idea, much to everyone else's surprise.

The last member, Blake, was simply going out as a cowgirl. She wore a cowboy hat, black jeans, brown boots and a black and grey flannel shirt with her sleeves cut off She also carried a whip, that was very much real.

They all were in the ballroom, sipping on some punch, all except for Blake who excused herself from the group. Meanwhile, Yang was busting out with some very bad jokes that included her teammates costumes.

Cardin remained with the balcony as he stared out in the night, he wasn't wearing any costumes. All he wore tonight was a grey hoodie.

In fact, he was wearing a hoodie more often than not after his encounter with recent said Arc. Of course, it was because he hid his head in shame, but also because he believed that no one would want to see him or his so-called _ugly_ face. This would frequently cut off Cardin's food supply when going for breakfast or lunch. It was that bad. He also has grown paler skin that he already had from his lack in outdoors. His original indigo eyes had been dramatically changed to light blue and it wasn't because of contacts.

His hair was changed as well, his well-known burnt orange hair evolved to a seal brown shade. He might have Cardin Winchester inside, but that's not how the rest of Beacon saw him. In fact, he's pretty much incognito. Rumors had spread around claiming that he was skipping classes and contracts ever since. Unintentionally, he went with it. In fact, the only one's who knew his true identity were Professor Oobleck, Port, Ms. Goodwitch and Ozpin. He's grown a close bond with all of them ever since. And they have also have caught Jaune Arc's actions.

 **And they were greatly disappointed...**

* * *

After dispatching herself from her group for some time alone, Blake exited outside and to the balcony. She enjoyed the company of her team-mates, but sometimes she needed her space. After the months following team RWBY having their encounter with the crime lord Torchwick, Blake has been on edge with coming to terms with losing Torchwick's trail. She lacked sleep and was rather not the same as she was before, a woman who wouldn't run from her mistakes. It was killing her and created tension with her team-mates.

Not to mention her previous relationship with a Vacuo transfer student, Sun Wukong. She had met the testosterone-filled monkey faunus on the day she had revealed to her team of her true race. Off the bat, Sun had fallen for the girl and it was seen too. Blake will admit, he had courage and the will to fight, even if his social status is excessive. Those were what she liked about him, but there was some bad parts that followed with their friendship.

During the prom night, she and Sun had a great night, what not with dancing, cracking jokes that excluded Yang's sense of humor, and a peaceful night. But that was when Sun came out with his feelings for Blake, to which she unfortunately declined. Now she wasn't one for playing favorites, in fact this wasn't the case. Blake explained that she's delighted for the offer, but she just doesn't have the same feelings towards him.

This had backfired on her as Sun had an outburst. He reminded all the times where they both aided one another during their fights against the White Fang and Torchwick, their friendship, their time spent with one another. He also made claims that she must've just played him, that she comes and goes with men. Blake was in tears at that point and she ran away from him. Sun also avoided her at all costs, for a while though. Over time, he would run into her and make each moment a living hell for her that always ended with her either depressed or sobbing.

She always recalls the first incident during Prom night...

* * *

"To think I even liked you! I never even felt these kinds of emotions for any girl my entire life !"

"Sun, please... I know you're upset about this... But know in my heart that I still like you as a dear friend."

"Oh! Oh! A friend, huh? That's all I am to you? Just some toy you can just use all the time until you got bored with me ?"

"No, no, not at all! Sun, please !" Blake said, her voice begging and quivering with sadness. She clenched her eyelids shut as tears spilled out.

"I bet you never even cared for what I felt. Who's the other guy? Who ?!"

Now Blake's crying could be practically heard if it wasn't for the music still blaring in the ballroom, she held her hands to her face.

"No one! I'm in love with no one! Sun..." she said in a high pitched tone with a wail following at the end, crying ensuing.

"Fuck you, Blake! You're a disgrace to humans and Faunus alike! I bet you even fucked a lot of guys in the White Fang before coming here !"

* * *

And that was all she could take before running off in the dark with tears slipping past her creamy skin. After all of that, she had informed her team and it took possibly self-controltrol to keep Yang from killing Sun. Sure they both seemed like kindred spirits, but Yang was Blake's closest friend, more than Sun could have ever been. Even team SSSN was aware of all this excitement, but they didn't grew to hate Blake, rather they felt sorrow for her. They still view Sun as their friend and team-mate, but they don't agree with his views towards the cat faunus.

Blake felt a ghost tear form around her eye, and even though it wasn't there, she still wiped a finger on it in hopes of no more dread.

A sigh was let out and it sent the girl in a jolt of surprise that almost made her want to bolt away. But when her instincts took over for her to stay and thanks to her night vision, she found the source of the noise. Her eyes managed to make out a hooded figure who was bulking in height. She identified the sigh as a male's. The figure was looking back at her, calm with a slight curiosity seeping through him. He didn't want to reveal himself so soon, or at all for the matter, he still remained in the shadows with the light from the party shining only on his outline.

"Who's there ?" she said in a startled panic.

The male figure merely looked on with little caution, however, he felt as though, just this once, he would break the ice. So he leaned forward with his hand gesturing for her to calm down. The lighting from the party shined upon part of his face but no revealing his eyes or above else.

"Who are you ?"

She pressed towards him but as she did, he would slowly inch his way back into the dark. For whatever reason, this made her grow interested instead of feeling threatened.

"It's alright, I'm not threatened, please, who are you ?"

He decided to just go with it, it would be the same thing anyway, just a snarky remark to him or probably being spitted on. He stepped forward and there he was, completely illuminated by the light. Now truthfully, Blake was surprised to say the least when she saw who it was. But she had never seen this person in her entire life, but at the same time, she felt as though she has.

"What's your name ?" she asked.

The revealed said nothing and looked downwards to his right. At this point, Blake was growing a tad agitated from his silent response, but it was all washed away by her curiosity and patience. She walked towards him and stopped where they were in a good short feet away from one another. The same amount of feet when you're quietly conversing with someone in a library. It was that close.

Blake could see a little clearer now since she was in front of him, his facial features were... astonishing to say the least. What she found to be most captivating was his eyes. They held lonesome, tired events replaying on and on. She decided if she shouldn't get a verbal answer, she'd get a good visual. Slowly she raised her hand up to his hood that covered his face. He calmly gripped her wrist with the softest touch, as if she was a porcelain doll, she'd bruise easily. Blake understood without having him to say anything, but she still pressed forward as he let her willingly.

With both hands, she raised the male's hood over his head and was only in what could be described as both shocked and amazed. Right in front of her, was a man standing nearly 6'2 feet tall, with shadows sinking into his cheeks as if they were hollow. His eyes were light blue. And they held a familiar feeling as well...

Tired...

And something broke the silence... The figure spoke...

"Blake..."

That was all it took for her to realize who it was. **Cardin Winchester.**

"Cardin?!" she said, a hint of disgust reaching to his ears, he flinched, unbeknownst to her. Cardin presumed this was the part where he took the abuse now, after a while he had gotten use to it to the point where the numbness would take over and repel it. But nothing ever came... Just silence. He used only his pupils to look on towards Blake, she was in a state of bewilderment.

"I'll just go..." he said.

And that's when he started walking away from her... Until her voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Wait."

He did. She came to his side and looked him dead in the eye, no longer was there any hate or fierce angst against him. Just an apologetic tone to it.

"You didn't lash out aggressively..."

"And ?"

"So you're not the same."

"The same can be said about you..."

"How would you know ?" she said, this time with only a small percentage of anger. But over time, he grew to patient with a lot of things, such as torment. He reached out and rested his hand on her shoulder, she allowed him to after getting used to the touch.

"Because just like me.. We're torn from the person we once were..."

She let it sink in.

"Cardin.."

"Yeah..."

"Just stay here with me here, just a little longer.."

He contemplated whether or not this was a gag, but then again, what more would he have to lose ? His pride was flushed away anyways. So he decided why not humor her..

He nodded with Blake taken him by the hand and over to the railing. All the while shortly going, he couldn't break his focus of their interlocked fingers, searching for one another's sign of no abandonment.

He stomped his foot in the ground, making Blake to be confused.

"I can't."

"Why not ?"

"Because... My kind and your kind don't mix..."

For a minute, Blake looked as if she had her birthday cake squashed. The same look on her face when Sun started breaking her heart was rising once more. But now, it was intense malice.

"Why am I not surprised ? You're still the dirt I knew back in the first months..."

"I know," he stated nonchalantly.

"You are nothing but scum, to think I-" she stopped herself from saying anything else. Her words hit her like a brick. She was almost sounding like Sun during that night...

So there they were. No longer hand in hand. Both looking towards the ground. Blake, however, decided that she would be the better person and not follow the wrong path.

"At least tell me how you found out."

Now it was Cardin's turn to look at her as if she was off topic.

"Find out what ?"

With a hiss, yes, an actual hiss from that of a cat, Blake formed a claw and slashed it against Cardin's cheek. It wasn't felt by him but he could feel the warm liquid drip down his cheek.

"How dare you have the audacity to play with me as if I am some pet ? I-"

Once more, the similarities of her vocabulary stopped her mid sentence. Sun just wouldn't let her see the same way she had ever again. He haunted her even without being near her.

 _'What am I becoming?"_

"Am I really no better than the White Fang ?" she said to herself with a tremble bound to erupt if something didn't stop it.

Winchester squinted his eyes at this, even cocked his head back some.

"What does the White Fang have anything to do with this ?" he said, calmly but carefully this time, his approach was gentle. She didn't respond, only the noise of tears dripping down onto the floor were barely even audible.

"How did you find out that I'm a faunus ?"

Cardin's eyes widened, but only a little. He'll be honest, he would have never expected the Belladonna girl to have been claimed as one. Sure, he knew Beacon was filled with a hefty amount of faunus running around, but never her.

So with that said, he took a deep breath and exhaled out through his mouth.

"I didn't. But, I know what's going on."

Blake's cheeks were pinching and a lump formed in her throat.

"You've misunderstood what I said before. About me and your kind not mixing."

"Bullshit." She said with a cry at the end of that, she didn't take her eyes off the floor.

"Blake, please, just hear me out."

Again, this moment is mirroring the traumatic event all over again. So she let him continue...

"What I meant... Is that my kind, the bad, doesn't mix with your kind... The good."

She believed him, and like that, she felt stupid... All this because of a misunderstanding.

"I'll be truthful, I'd have never guessed about you being a faunus."

"I... You-... I'm... I'm so sor-"

She was stopped when Cardin wrapped an arm around her back and embraced her. Not once was the feeling ever wrong. But it was right for her to let out all the frustration out, all the pain she was given. As for Cardin, he would only let it soak in him. It was all he could think of at the last possible second. He didn't like seeing her cry like that. He always regretted bullying Velvet and hearing her weep from it made it worse. He didn't like seeing women cry. It just felt wrong. Blake felt guilty once more, having his cheek cut and bleeding, all because of her.

"I forgive you, it was a misunderstanding, that's all."

Blake's arms circled around his waist and rubbed her head against his chest, digging away from the pain...

* * *

They had finally gotten over the little fluke, but never did they once depart from each other's grasp. This had lasted an hour at this point, and yet no one was leaving. The soft gentle strokes of Cardin's hands in her hair made her feel at ease. Especially the one in a while cradling back and forth was also soothing.

"Blake.."

She looked up with puffy eyes that were returning back to their normal selves' again.

"It doesn't matter what you are... I still think you're a true huntress, and that is something I know, that will never leave you or be taken away."

She sniffled at that, smiling for the first time without having to force one to make others comfortable. He wiped away any tears that could possibly be around. But when he brushed his thumb to check for any signs, he unintentionally brushed her lip and you better believe that caught her attention.

Locking eyes and setting in, they stood as one. The Winchester and the Runaway. An odd chemistry. Blake did something he would have never in his entire life suspected. She moved forward and pressed her lips gently against his own.

And you know what...

Cardin had no problem with it as he closed his eyes in bliss.

 ** _They hugged tighter and along with them, the moon light illuminated upon them..._**


End file.
